Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir- Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Opening
Have you ever seen someone who is diligently working, honest, and not bothering anyone, suddenly struck by a great misfortune? At that moment, our layman’s logic might protest, “Why is this good person suddenly unlucky? Where is God’s justice?”
Hold on. Don’t be too quick to be confused. Let us dissect how Allah SWT administers justice in this universe using a very precise concept: The Divine Current Account System. Scientifically, in modern accounting systems, there is a difference between bookkeeping based on isolated bonds and a current account. In a current account, all transactions—cash deposits, incoming transfers, withdrawals, and debts from different places—are accumulated into one single, comprehensive balance. That is how Allah evaluates our lives. Allah does not judge humans on isolated, case-by-case incidents in one place alone. A person may look clean in his shop today, but his global balance of deeds elsewhere is undergoing a “large debit” due to hidden sins. When punishment or misfortune descends, it is not injustice, but an automatic collection for violations of Allah’s law recorded on another page in the same book of deeds.
Let us cool our souls by reflecting on the words of Allah SWT:
وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا ۖ وَإِنْ كَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا بِهَا ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِنَا حَاسِبِينَ
“And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be wronged at all. And if there is the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as accountant.”[QS. Al-Anbiyā’: 47]
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also reminded us through a deeply stirring hadith about the concept of a “social-transaction account” between humans that can go bankrupt:
أَتَدْرُونَ مَا الْمُفْلِسُ؟ قَالُوا: الْمُفْلِسُ فِينَا مَنْ لاَ دِرْهَمَ لَهُ وَلاَ مَتَاعَ. فَقَالَ: إِنَّ الْمُفْلِسَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي يَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ بِصَلاَةٍ وَصِيَامٍ وَزَكَاةٍ وَيَأْتِي قَدْ شَتَمَ هَذَا وَقَذَفَ هَذَا وَأَكَلَ مَالَ هَذَا وَسَفَكَ دَمَ هَذَا وَضَرَبَ هَذَا فَيُعْطَى هَذَا مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ وَهَذَا مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ فَإِنْ فَنِيَتْ حَسَنَاتُهُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُقْضَى مَا عَلَيْهِ أُخِذَ مِنْ خَطَايَاهُمْ فَطُرِحَتْ عَلَيْهِ ثُمَّ طُرِحَ فِي النَّارِ
“Do you know who the bankrupt person is?” The Companions replied, “The bankrupt among us is the one who has no dirham and no possessions.” He said, “The truly bankrupt from my nation is the one who comes on the Day of Resurrection with prayer, fasting, and charity, yet he comes having insulted this one, slandered that one, consumed the wealth of this one, shed the blood of that one, and struck this one. So this one will be given from his good deeds, and that one from his good deeds. If his good deeds run out before what he owes is settled, sins of theirs will be taken and cast upon him, then he will be thrown into the Fire.”[HR. Muslim]
2. Lessons and Message
There is a true story about a taxi driver known on the streets to be very fierce. Behind his job of earning a living, he was actually a disobedient son who often beat his elderly mother until she cried in the corner of her room. One night, after committing another act of disobedience, he drove his taxi back onto the streets. Unexpectedly, he was stopped by cold-blooded robbers. Tragically and sorrowfully, the taxi driver was executed on the spot in a brutal manner. People around the scene wept seeing his body, feeling pity for a taxi driver who was “just earning a lawful living” but met a wretched fate. They did not know that on that same night, the tears of his oppressed mother had just knocked on the doors of heaven. His tragic death on the street was an instant execution from his current account of sins that had come due.
Let’s make a simple analogy. Imagine a man named Mr. Khalid. During the day, Mr. Khalid gets pulled over by the police and his car is impounded—while he is driving very carefully, wearing a seatbelt, going slow, and obeying traffic lights 100%. Netizens who see it will surely defend Mr. Khalid and condemn the police: “Wow, the police are oppressive! He’s obeying the rules, why arrest him!”But let’s open Mr. Khalid’s “Current Account.” It turns out, the night before, Mr. Khalid had just attended a sinful party, got drunk, and drove off with someone else’s rental car without paying! Mr. Khalid was arrested by the police not because of his fault while driving properly during the day, but because the “bill” for his sin of stealing a car the night before was only cleared that afternoon! The traffic officer, without realizing it, was merely a tool sent by destiny to collect Mr. Khalid ’s old debt.This is where we learn about _sunnatullah_—the way of Allah: Oppressors are often made into instruments of retribution by Allah. A criminal or cruel person—like the taxi driver’s killer— is in essence “Allah’s whip” on earth to execute another sinner whose current account has gone into deficit. So is the killer then off the hook? No. After his task as a “whip” is done, Allah will also repay the oppression of that oppressor with an equivalent punishment.
3. Conclusion and Closing
Friends, Allah’s system of justice works holistically, comprehensively, and never delivers to the wrong address. If today we are struck by misfortune even though we feel we did nothing wrong in that place, do not rush to blame destiny. Recheck the “current account” of our deeds. Perhaps it is an installment of sanctions from our past sins elsewhere that we have not yet sought forgiveness for. So let us always keep every page of our life’s book clean. Remember, every sinful transaction—no matter how small—in the most hidden corner, its collection receipt can arrive at any time, anywhere, through intermediaries we would never expect
. والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Abu Sultan Al-Qadrie
